Colette (2019)

Rating: 6/10

Genre: Drama

Related Titles: Lizzie, The Duchess, The Wife,

By Leanne Harragan

When Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette moves to Paris, she agrees to ghostwrite a novel for her husband. After much success, she decides to fight for ownership of the semi-autobiographical writing.

After much excitement for this film, I can't help feel that it really fell short of expectations for me; the odd thing is, I can't give a reason for why it fell short. Despite having all the makings of a good film, it lacked the spark or wow factor to really draw me in and I found myself clock-watching for the second hour of the film.

Colette is based on the life of Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, a writer who had to fight to have her name included on the book she ghostwrote. Her story is more than that as she had stints in the theatre and continued to write freely under her own name long after the success of the Claudine stories that she famously had to fight for. The film really only focused on the earlier years of her life, looking at the time she spent writing and fighting for the Claudine books, it also touches on the breakdown of her relationship with husband Willy and the beginning of her relationship with Missy. 

While the story itself is quite an interesting one and is portrayed fantastically by Keira Knightley as titular Colette and Dominic West as husband Willy. The beginning and breakdown of their relationship was portrayed wonderfully and it was made very clear that there were a few infidelity issues along the way from both sides. Both performances were very well done and other co-stars including Eleanor Tomlinson and Denise Gough were excellent. 

The film also looks fantastic with each scene being very well designed and the costume design being aesthetically pleasing, especially the suit that Knightley bowls in wearing half-way through much to the disgust of her husband. I also enjoyed the score that accompanied, adding a touch a class, drama or tension wherever necessary. 

My review is full of positives and that's because really there's nothing wrong with this film, everything was good and done very well, it just lacked a spark that caught my attention and kept me interested. I just felt that everything was thrown in a tad offhandedly and some of the characters just felt there were there to further the plot and weren't given any proper depth. 

Rating: 9/10
By Rebecca Mannick 

Colette is a film that has left a lasting impact on me. It's story is powerful and trailblazing I'm so glad that a full length picture was made in celebrating the life of Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette. It is a film about empowerment, breaking free of social expectations. Colette finds herself in Paris, married to 'Willy' who is charismatic man and also a writer. She is now living in the city and mixing with associates of Willy who are all creative or successful in their careers. Colette starts to write a book called 'Claudine' - but obviously being a woman means that the novel is placed under the name of Willy - which suddenly makes him a household name. Willy blames cheating on Colette as 'being a man' - this triggers her to create an identity for herself - expressing herself creatively and sexually.

Kiera Knightley plays one of her best roles to date - you can really see the timeline of her personal awakening. You see a young girl stuck in rural France falling for a charming older man, moving to the city but also being confided to their apartment. Knightley plays Colette so quietly and reserved until she is confident to live her true self. Knightley plays the relationship with Willy (Dominic West) very well - they have a mutual understanding at points but ultimately they are always trying to undermine each other. For example, when Georgie (Eleanor Tomlinson) a southern American takes interest in Colette, Willy encourages her to pursue her - as in his eyes its not infidelity if its with a woman. But then behind Colette's back he starts sleeping with her also to prove his dominance. 

The story is interesting and moves at a good pace, you really feel that Colette finds herself when she meets Missy. Missy is able to give her that push into really being herself and take her art to the next level. This is when she puts together a theatre dance performance that she performs at the Moulin Rouge to a disgruntled audience because of her progressive message.

All round I really enjoyed this movie. It had everything that I would want from a film - a great storyline, a good pace, dynamic performances and queer content. To give a film a rating of 9/10 it had have to have blown me away and thats how I felt with Colette - I honestly could have watched another hour of this coming of age story.